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Controlled Substances

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California and a handful of other states will probably vote on legal pot in 2016. Whether it passes will depend on the quality of the proposal, how much money is involved in the campaigns, and how things play out in Colorado, Washington, and other places that have legalized production and sales.

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Results from over a million adolescents surveyed between 1991 and 2014 indicate that the passage of state medical marijuana laws does not increase adolescent marijuana use. However, overall, adolescent use is higher in states that ever passed such a law than in other states.

Historically, US federal policy has not supported harm reduction interventions, such as safe injection facilities (SIFs) and needle and syringe programs (NSPs), which can reduce the burden associated with injection drug use.

Sniping and other high-risk smoking practices deserve further attention among homeless youth, particularly those already facing greater health threats due to factors such as nicotine dependence, lower income, and drug abuse.

This study demonstrated the feasibility and import of involving formerly incarcerated adults in the design, implementation, and testing of interventions intended to support their reintegration efforts.

Marijuana policy is a growing topic of discussion, and laws are starting to change. Ten choices confronting jurisdictions considering legalization cover many of the critical decisions that will determine whether removing prohibition is a good idea.

Air National Guard remotely piloted aircraft — or drones — may be useful in responding to a variety of domestic threats and potential emergencies. However, there are congressional concerns, as well as operational and policy constraints to be addressed.

The increased number and geographic distribution of physicians obtaining waivers to prescribe buprenorphine has widened potential access to effective treatment for those with addiction to heroin or prescription painkillers.

Adolescents who sleep less or stay up later are significantly more likely to have used alcohol and marijuana over the past month when compared to their peers who report better sleep patterns. The association was consistent even after controlling for other known risk factors, such as depression.

The marijuana policy landscape changed dramatically in 2014. Legal sales for nonmedical purposes began in Colorado and in Washington state. Voters in Washington, D.C., Alaska, and Oregon passed initiatives to liberalize their marijuana laws. Uruguay also started implementing its marijuana legalization law.

Tobacco and alcohol addiction are widespread public health risks across the European Union. Both merit tackling at a young age. Evidence-based, early interventions are available that can be applied in small-scale settings to prevent underage alcohol and tobacco abuse.

Amounts of user consumption and expenditures are more useful indicators than prevalence when developing drug policy. While neither of these indicators is perfect, they can help states contemplating marijuana legalization make production and revenue projections.

Swift-certain-fair sanctioning helps enforce the conditions of community corrections by substituting swiftness and certainty for severity and by increasing the predictability and perceived fairness of the process from the offender's viewpoint.

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Assistant Policy Analyst

Clinton Saloga is a Ph.D. candidate at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He has an M.A. in international economics from Wichita State University, where his thesis examined the implications of delayed independence and institutional quality on Latin American development, and a B.S. in business…

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